Picard-Lefschetz decomposition and Cheshire Cat resurgence in 3D $\mathcal{N}=2$ field theories

TL;DR

This paper explores the decomposition of 3D $ ext{N}=2$ supersymmetric gauge theories' path integrals using Picard-Lefschetz theory and reveals a hidden topological angle through complexification, enabling a novel resurgence analysis despite perturbative truncation.

Contribution

It introduces a method to distinguish topological sectors in 3D supersymmetric theories by complexifying parameters and uncovers a Cheshire Cat resurgence structure that reconstructs non-perturbative data from truncated perturbative series.

Findings

Complexifying the squashing parameter introduces a hidden topological angle.

Path integrals can be decomposed into topological sectors via Picard-Lefschetz theory.

Resurgence structures can be revealed even when perturbative expansions truncate.

Abstract

We study three dimensional $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetric abelian gauge theories with various matter contents living on a squashed sphere. In particular we focus on two problems: firstly we perform a Picard-Lefschetz decomposition of the localised path integral but, due to the absence of a topological theta angle in three dimensions, we find that steepest descent cycles do not permit us to distinguish between contributions to the path-integral coming from (would-be) different topological sectors, for example a vortex from a vortex/anti-vortex. The second problem we analyse is the truncation of all perturbative expansions. Although the partition function can be written as a transseries expansion of perturbative plus non-perturbative terms, due to the supersymmetric nature of the observable studied we have that each perturbative expansion around trivial and non-trivial saddles truncates suggesting that normal resurgence analysis cannot be directly applied. The first problem is solved by complexifying the squashing parameter, which can be thought of as introducing a chemical potential for the global $U(1)$ rotation symmetry, or equivalently an omega deformation. This effectively introduces a hidden "topological angle" into the theory and the path integral can be now decomposed into a sum over different topological sectors via Picard-Lefschetz theory. The second problem is solved by deforming the matter content making manifest the Cheshire Cat resurgence structure of the supersymmetric theory, allowing us to reconstruct non-perturbative information from perturbative data even when these do truncate.